Examining gender identity and ‘the need to protect all’ — Letter to the Editor

The anti-discrimination law of Colorado “calls out the need to protect all” and in the list we’re all familiar with, “gender identity” and “gender expression” were added in 2021. This revised law is something most community members and educators were unaware of. With respect to gender identity, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission issued rules that “all public covered entities shall allow individuals the proper use of segregated facilities that are consistent with their gender identity. Those facilities include but are not limited to bathrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms and dormitories.”

Are these gender rules actually laws school districts have to follow? Could that be interpreted differently by other legal counsel? This is something the school board needs to explore, not vote against as they did earlier this year.

I agree that our district would not want to let a student choose another gender in a day, but I can’t find a legal state or district document that states how long a student must claim another gender to be protected by these gender laws and rules.

We must make sure both transgender students and straight students are protected in Holyoke schools. Students who are questioning their gender need help to accept themselves as they were created, at least until they are adults. Taking hormones and getting permanent life-altering surgeries are not the answer. Straight students need to be confident that bathrooms and locker rooms will be segregated by biological gender, just as their parents have taught them from Day 1. 

I have no doubt all these issues will arrive in Holyoke. Girls’ sports, which my own PE teacher and coach here in Holyoke worked so hard to establish back in 1972 with the advent of Title IX, will disappear as biological males are able to join girls’ teams. 

Raising the awareness of parents, educators and the community concerning these gender laws was never about attacking teachers. The teachers in Holyoke have chosen the most difficult career possible, in my opinion. Becoming a rocket engineer is easier than having been the person who led that engineer into the unending wonders of learning while in school. Yet the reward of seeing adults in the careers of their choice is no doubt worth it all. 

I do not dislike nor will I avoid any board member, and I hope we can work together in the future to make Holyoke a city of continued Pride and Progress.